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Wednesday, July 15, 2015

To Detroit and Back - Taping for Season 7 of Knit and Crochet Now

I am back from Detroit. It has been a whirlwind of a week. The trip to Detroit is a blur - a good blur. Taping went fine and next January the new season of PBS's Knit and Crochet Now will be released.

When you walk into Detroit PBS, you are greeted by this wall of screens. They are showing all the shows that are on PBS at the present time. It is pretty fun to look at it all. It is automated and noone is in there ever.

This season, we had a new host because Brett Bara has had beautiful twin girls and was not able to host. Deborah Norville, as in news anchor and host of Inside Edition for many, many years, is the new host. Deborah is a lifelong sewer, knitter, crocheter and needleworker. To say she is a hard worker would be an understatement. She arrived on Friday evening after 3 flights and assorted meetings during the day. Saturday morning she was right there with the rest of us at 7:15 in the make up and hair "chairs".

Deborah and me after taping my last segment

I taped my 5 shows all on Saturday! Things went fine and it was very fun to see the crew I have worked with for 10 seasons while filming in Detroit at their local PBS Station. I cannot overstate how incredibly wonderful these people are to work with and spend time with. This is Fred - the Floor Manager. Fred works with Alex the Director and makes sure everything goes fine in the studio while taping. Before he does the countdown to start taping, he always says "Have fun with it ladies." I love that.

Here are some other photos of behind the scenes. It takes about 20 people behind the scenes to tape a show like this. Amazing.

The cameras including the overhead that looks down on the work

The overhead camera from the side

This is the Control Room - all those people are in charge of something in particular. They sit in the dark all day long.

This is my friend Candi Jensen, who is the Producer of K&CN with Alex Kimbrough, the Director. Here they are discussing some of the logistics. Candi is the reason I am involved in this whole thing. We have known each other for over 30 years. We both had parallel careers as Creative Directors (hers at Crystal Palace) and knitwear designers and authors. Candi is the author of over 20 books. She isn't writing now because she is devoting herself to the tv show.

Here we are together. I only get to see her when we tape because I don't go to trade shows anymore. (Candi lives in California.) We have such a good time together.

This is Candi with Carlotta who works for Detroit PBS. Carlotta is the nicest woman - she makes everyone feel so welcome and attends to our needs (including sending back a favorite lipstick if you forget it).

This is Sandi Rosner. She works for Universal Yarns (who is a sponsor of the show). Her freelance job is to organize all the talent and make sure they know what to say and that all the step-outs are properly in order. This time we ran through what we were going to say with Sandi before taping. It was great practice. I love Sandi. She is a queen of organization which is great for me because I am not. She has a past life as a tech editor and is so smart.

Here is the line-up in the workroom. All the trays are loaded with the finished projects, the step-outs and all the supplies we need on camera. Doing a show like this is a massive amount of organization.

I can remember how nervous I was the very first time I went on camera. Now I just have them attach the mike to my shirt and pants and I go. It is a skill I am very happy to have and really cannot believe I do - all because I know how to knit and crochet. This experience has afforded me the confidence to try other things I am asked to do. Here I am with the other experts and Deborah Norville. From top to bottom left to right- Rohn Strong, Deborah Norville, Lena Skvagerson, Ellen Gormley, me and Robyn Chachula. I love all these people. All so talented and enthusiastic about the craft. A pleasure to spend time with all of them.

The thing that is so bizarre about this experience is that you are inside all day from 7 a.m. to after 6 at night. We never knew what it was like outside. The walls in most of the studio are painted black - including the center area where we ate lunch. By the time the day was over and we walked outside, it was like we hadn't seen light in days and days. I'm not sure how I could cope with that atmosphere day after day. This new season that we just taped will not air until January or February 2016. There will be gobs of editing and building the programs. The show will go out to stations to choose it for airing on their stations. It's a long process and I am such a teeny part of it. I thank Candi and Annie's for offering me this opportunity. I thank everyone in Detroit for treating all of us so royally! It was a fun experience - once again. Now to get ready for the students coming for a Fabric Printing Class this coming weekend at the farm.

8 comments:

Double Wows! I loved reading about this and all of the fantastic people (you included) who work so hard and are so dedicated. It makes me smile to know that you were surrounded by friends and such talented folk. I don't know how you do all of this, Kristin, but you certainly have my respect.Have a lovely weekend.

Krisitn, I am sure you are well aware of what a switcheroo of all your senses occurs when you leave shearing days at the farm to fly out to Detroit to film a tv show to be shown in 2016.

Bravo to you for carrying all this with style and grace. A true professional.

Also...it was very interesting to have some backstage access to see how such programs are put together. From my viewing her tv appearances over the years, I always have had the impression that Deborah Norville was a genuin person...even before I knew she was a knitter. Good to have your confirming insights.

Your posts in the last week have been very fun to read. Your experiences certainly come from two extremely different facets of your life!! I hope you and your students have a great time with the fabric printing class. I know that I certainly did, when I was at your first class.

The PBS Create channel which airs the Knit and Crochet program is how I found you! I love these programs even in reruns because seeing something more than once is often how I learn. I work from home several days a week and at noon when I take a break, there is normally a yarn or sewing program on Create I live in the country and we get our TV via antenna. Love PBS. My fervent wish is for yarn/sewing/creative programs to air after 5:30p.

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